The Prepress Specialist is Your Behind-the-Scenes Brand Guardian

Packaging design development is so much more than developing visual design systems. For packaging that consistently articulates your brand and connects with consumers from the shelf, attention to detail throughout the entire design and production process is the key to its success. In other words, having a team that works in a coordinated and collaborative manner to achieve your packaging objectives and make the design and production processes worry free is critical – enabling you to be more actively focused on the strategic aspects of your brand.

Having a prepress specialist (PPS) working on the team provides the behind–the–scenes, go-to asset ensuring the designs are realized as they are conceptualized – that the same excitement you feel when you agree on the winning creative concept is the same excitement you feel when you see your product on shelf. A good PPS adds value to the production process through a range of technical specialties and skill sets, including:

Knowledge of design, color, graphics and imaging processes and technologies

Awareness of strength, limitations, and capabilities in a wide variety of print/production formats

Bring your PPS into timeline and workflow planning and management early to ensure the best brand design outcomes for your packaging. Your PPS knows from experience how to identify and when to address critical concerns, or potential roadblocks to the project’s success, calling attention to possible technical issues that could negatively affect design outcomes, timelines and impact costs. This enables your creative team to make informed, insightful decisions to creating and producing your intended design within the technical parameters of the production partners—saving time and money that unnecessary revisions would otherwise consume.

There may be times when you choose to delay a process step in order to address a technical challenge. An early, planned delay can be a smart move when the decision is based on the entire team’s input. It allows for necessary design exploration that enables the implementation of the true intent behind your brand design.

Quality Assurance

Having a PPS to work hand-in-hand with vendors and other production partners is key to achieving the best packaging design outcome – on time and within budget. Your PPS manages and approves press runs for consistency standards across multiple profiles, substrates, and presses, and advocates for design integrity on your behalf…in other words, your PPS manages quality to the standards you set.

Make the best use of your prepress specialist, and bring them into the process early to fulfill your packaging brand design objectives, saving time and money throughout the production process.

If you have questions or need prepress help to ensure your project’s success, contact us at info@brand-directions.com or 920-886-7727.